1. Insights into Circum-Arctic sea ice variability from molecular geochemistry
- Author
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Vera Stoynova, Konrad A Hughen, Anne de Vernal, and Timothy M. Shanahan
- Subjects
Archeology ,Global and Planetary Change ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Sediment ,Geology ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Dinosterol ,Arctic ice pack ,Subarctic climate ,Proxy (climate) ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Oceanography ,chemistry ,Arctic ,13. Climate action ,Sea ice ,14. Life underwater ,Marine productivity ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
Geological records of past sea ice, such as those contained in Arctic marine sediments, offer an opportunity to strengthen our understanding of long-term sea ice variability, provided unambiguous paleo-sea ice proxies can be developed. One such recently proposed proxy is IP25, a highly branched isoprenoid alkene biosynthesized exclusively by sea-ice dwelling diatoms (Haslea spp.), which is well preserved in marine sediments and could be used to reconstruct past changes in spring sea-ice extent. However, little is known about regional-scale controls on IP25 production in sea ice, limiting its wider applicability as a paleo-sea-ice proxy. To address this issue we examined the distributions of IP25 and the marine productivity biomarkers dinosterol and brassicasterol in a suite of surface sediment samples distributed across the Arctic. We find a statistically significant, logarithmic relationship between IP25 and spring sea ice cover in sediment samples from arctic and subarctic sites in the Pacific (n = 96, R2 = 0.67, P
- Published
- 2013
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